The biggest loser, however, in the House was the legal community. Lawyers and law firms saw 30 top beneficiaries leave office or go down to defeat, while only 15 top beneficiaries won — a net loss of 15 seats, the Center’s research shows.

Lawmakers supported the most by Democratic/liberal interests also experienced a setback. No new, incoming lawmakers will count these interests as their top donors; meanwhile, 10 lawmakers who counted these interests has their top donor won’t be returning.

Politicians whose top donors are retired people will occupy at least 26 new House seats. Only six lawmakers who counted retired people as their top donors will not be returning to work in the 112th Congress. This is a net gain of 20 seats for retired interests, according to the Center’s analysis.

Leadership PACs were the next biggest winner in the House, with a net gain of 12 seats, after seeing 18 politicians who counted leadership PACs as their top donors win, while six lost.

The special interest bloc of Republican/conservative interests, furthermore, gained four seats in the House, after seeing five new politicians elected and one defeated at the polls.

Notably, the oil and gas industry’s representation in the new Congress will not change, according to the Center’s research. While three lawmakers who count the oil and gas industry as their top donor will not be returning to the House in January, three new ones will take their place.

Below is a table showing all industry representation changes in the House. A download-able version of this table and the itemized data behind it is available at the bottom of the page.

House Top Industries Changing

New Incoming

Outgoing Members

Net Gain/Loss

Retired

26

6

20

Leadership PACs

18

6

12

Republican/Conservative

5

1

4

Health Professionals

14

12

2

Mining

2

0

2

Misc Business

2

0

2

Real Estate

3

2

1

Securities & Investment

2

1

1

Misc Finance

1

0

1

Special Trade Contractors

1

0

1

Oil & Gas

3

3

0

Automotive

0

1

-1

Computers/Internet

0

1

-1

Defense Aerospace

0

1

-1

Electric Utilities

0

1

-1

Industrial Unions

0

1

-1

Misc Manufacturing & Distributing

0

1

-1

Misc Services

0

1

-1

Public Sector Unions

0

1

-1

Insurance

0

3

-3

Transportation Unions

0

3

-3

Women’s Issues

0

3

-3

Crop Production & Basic Processing

2

6

-4

Democratic/Liberal

0

10

-10

Lawyers/Law Firms

15

30

-15

On the Senate side of Congress, the special interest bloc of retired people again proved to be a big winner.

Here, five politicians with retired people as their top industry backer were elected last week. Three lawmakers backed by retired people, meanwhile, won’t be returning to work in January — yielding a net gain of two seats for retired people.

LeMieux, who was appointed to his by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist after Mel Martinez retired last year, is the outgoing favorite of lobbyists. Since he was not running to retain the seat himself, LeMieux did not register a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission, but he did raise more than $220,000 for his leadership PAC, with one-tenth of that sum coming from lobbyists. He is also reportedly mulling a 2012 bid against Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).

Burris, who was appointed to fill President Barack Obama’s Senate seat by Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, raised a measly $102,000 since last year and decided to drop his bid for retaining the seat due to poor fund-raising. Two public sector unions accounted for $10,000 of his sum, the most of any industry.

Sens.-elect Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), whose top donors so far have been leadership PACs and Democratic/liberal interests, will be replacing “placeholder” senators who did not have leadership PACs of their own or campaign committees.

As in the House, lawyers and law firms were the biggest losers. These interests lost a net of four seats in the Senate. Five incumbents whose top industry donor has been lawyers and law firms are headed for the exits, while just one new member was elected whose top financial backers have been lawyers and law firms.

Here is a table showing all industry representation changes in the Senate. A download-able version of this table and the itemized data behind it is available at the bottom of the page.

Senate Top Industries Changing

New Incoming

Outgoing Members

Net Gain/Loss

Retired

5

3

2

Health Professionals

1

0

1

Business Services

1

0

1

Republican/Conservative

1

0

1

Democratic/Liberal

1

0

1

Leadership PACs

1

0

1

Crop Production & Basic Processing

1

0

1

Oil & Gas

1

0

1

Securities & Investment

2

2

0

Insurance

1

1

0

Lobbyists

0

1

-1

Public Sector Unions

0

1

-1

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products

0

1

-1

Lawyers/Law Firms

1

5

-4

Not unsurprisingly, Democratic-leaning interest groups and their allies generally lost seats in both chambers of Congress, while traditionally Republican-aligned interests and industries gained ground.

On Nov. 2, Republicans won 35 open seat House races, some of which were held by Republicans and some of which were held by Democrats. Additionally, at least 50 Republican challengers won on Election Day, the Center’s analysis shows — yielding a net loss of at least 60 seats for Democrats. Five House races still remained undecided as of today.

In the Senate, Republicans saw a net gain of six seats, shy of the eleven seats they needed to take control of the chamber. Only one Senate race is still undecided — as conservative attorney Joe Miller battles incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who forged ahead with a write-in campaign after Miller beat her in a Republican primary.

This preliminary analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics is based on the career top contributors to candidate committees and leadership PACs of the out-going members of the 111th Congress and the new members of the 112th Congress.

The analysis based on campaign finance reports filed before the election for the 94 settled House races where an incumbent was not reelected and the 16 settled Senate races where an incumbent was not reelected. Top industry backers to lawmakers could change over time as the Center processes additional data.

Download these charts, the full list of new incoming members, outgoing members and their top industries here: Industry 2010 Winners.xls

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